By John Hodge

It is Moscow 1938 and writer Mikhail Bulgakov is living in a cramped apartment he has to share with an assortment of dissidents including an ex landowner and a schoolmistress. He is being shadowed by the secret police and frustrated because his most recent play about the playwright, Molière. has been banned.

Unexpectedly, he is offered an extraordinary poisoned chalice by no lesser a personage than Stalin himself.

John Hodge has been stimulated by some bizarre historical realities to take us on this surreal, often comic, unbelievable journey into Bulgakov’s feverish imagination as he struggles to stay on a tightrope that will enable him to produce an acceptable play glorifying the young Stalin whilst remaining true to his own principles and, even more importantly, staying alive! Gradually the cunning, ruthless and charming dictator takes over and Bulgakov is drawn into a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the all-powerful subject of his play.

A cast of experienced Stables favourites and a sprinkling of welcome newcomers look forward to entertaining you with this award-winning play.

A Stables production directed by Maureen Nelson.